The Immaculate Conception And Lack Of Original Sin

[boftx]

According to Catholic theology, Mary, the mother of Jesus, was born without the stain of Original Sin because she was born to a woman who was barren and was therefore itself a miraculous birth.

 

If that theology is correct (please, bear with me) what does that say about Issac, whose birth also was a miracle in that Sarah was also barren for many years at the time of his birth? Wouldn't that imply that Issac, too, was born without Original Sin?

 

There are interesting lines of debate that this could open up regarding the aborted sacrifice of Issac.

 

[♦ ficino ♦]

Hello boftx, I think an operative word in what you posted is "because."  As a long-lapsed Catholic, what I recall is that Mary was redeemed by an act of grace in the very moment of her conception.  So because of that, she was born free of original sin, stain of Adam, whatever one calls it.  She's often compared to Eve;  I guess you could say she was ahead of where Eve was before Eve ate the fruit, because Eve wasn't redeemed yet.

 

One of the factors that God set up to provide for Mary's redemption in the first moment of her conception was her conception to an otherwise barren mother.  It is not in consequence of that biological event, though, that Mary was conceived and redeemed at the same moment in Cath. theology, as I understand it.

 

A lot of non-Catholics (maybe even some Catholics) think the immaculate conception refers to Mary's conceiving Jesus w/o sin.  I believe that's the way the term is used in the Eastern Church but not in the Western. 

[boftx]

I went back and double checked, and you are correct that that the dogma explicitly states that there was divine intervention to prevent the stain of Original Sin at the moment of conception and not that the birth itself was a miracle that was responsible. I'm usually more careful than that.

 

That said, it throws a serious monkey wrench at those who claim the literal word-for-word truth of the Bible since the Bible says that no one, not one, is born without the taint of Original Sin. Of course, those who do not accept the dogma of the Immaculate Conception simply say the Catholic Church is wrong. And I don't think I have ever met a Catholic who takes the fundie position of the literal word-for-word truth of the Bible.

 

So which version of Christianity is more correct (or shall we say, less incorrect?)

[Guest r3alchild]

The only way jesus can be born without sin is if god created jesus in marys womb without the use of josephs sperm or marys egg. This is why the bible says he is a high priest in the order of melchizedek.

 

Hebrews 7v1

1 This Melchizedek was king of Salemand priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, 2 and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. First, the name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness”; then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.” 3 Without father or mother, without genealogy,without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.

 

Jesus is the son of mary and joseph by birth right alone but not by creation, by creation he is from god and has no mother or father.

[centauri]

One has to wonder how sin free Mary or Jesus were considering that Mary had to give a sin sacrifice for the birth of Jesus and was rendered temporarily unclean by it.

The birth of Jesus made her just as unclean as the birth of any other child would have.

[kolaida]

I was always taught the Immaculate Conception was because Mary had Jesus even though she was a virgin.  I wasn't Catholic, though. I didn't even know Mary was considered faultless by some til I was much older.  In the churches I attended when I was growing up, Mary was basically a regular human who lived her life right and pleased the Lord with her faith and was chosen to bear his child.   

[Burt_Lemur]

I believe that the conception of Jesus as we all know it really happened was probably doggy-style.